If they had more than one son, the inherited lands generally went to the first-born and the acquired lands to the second-born, while any other sons had to make their own way in life. Most of the barons copied the king’s example. ![]() He left no land for his youngest son, Henry, who simply received 5,000 lbs. ![]() But when he himself died, he bequeathed Normandy (which he had inherited) to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and England (which he had acquired) to his second son, William Rufus. William the Conqueror and his son Robert, 1865 (Credit: John Cassell). Others had supported William and prospered under the new regime. Some were survivors who had managed to cling to their ancestral estates. Native subtenants, by contrast, held only 5 per cent of the country – and the majority of them held just one manor. In fact, more than 80 per cent of the secular (as distinct from clerical) subtenants named in Great Domesday held lands worth £5 or less. The remaining 7,800-odd landholders possessed relatively modest estates. Some 70 men held lands worth £100 to £650, and the 10 greatest magnates controlled enormous fiefdoms worth £650 to £3,240. However, there was an elite within the elite. ![]() The king headed the nation’s “rich list”, with estates covering 17 per cent of England, while roughly 150-200 barons held another 54 per cent between them. The Church held some 26 per cent of this territory, but almost everything else was in Norman hands. The aggregate value of the area covered by the survey was about £73,000. A page from William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book.
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